Sustainability

Recycling your old carpeting—it’s a thing! The next time your hotel, apartment building, or community association is looking to re-carpet, do a little carpet research before making the plunge with a new carpet company.

What if every time you filled a glass of water you threw half of it in your boss’s face? Well, that’d be bad! But that is kinda what happens with most landscaping water systems.

Half the water that is being used to sustain the grounds around your building is being wasted. That’s straight from the horse’s mouth—the EPA, that is. Community associations and other management looking to increase water conservation can target their landscaping areas as an integral place to conserve.

It’s a no-brainer: Water=Life. We need it, we use it, but we’ve gotta conserve it better. Commercial and residential buildings can have a huge impact on water conservation with just a handful of low-cost or no-cost water solutions.

When it came time for Certus Claims Administration, LLC to relocate from Camarillo to Thousand Oaks, California, the firm was looking for a more modernized space to fit its needs. This meant cleaning house and looking for a new home for some of the office furniture that wasn’t being utilized in addition to the filing cabinets, shelving units, and other items no longer needed as a result of having gone paperless.

The solution was clear: Give back to local entities in need of these items, a hallmark tradition embedded in the culture of Distinguished and its DP Cares program.

“Hi! I just checked in and I want to feel worse after I leave.” Said no hotel guest ever.

In fact, the pendulum keeps swinging way over in the other direction and sticking there. Guests are not just looking for a clean, comfortable place to stay with restaurant options and proximity to destinations, they are actively seeking hotels with wellness programs.

Their goal? To partner a vacation or work obligation with a built-in regiment that makes them feel better while they’re there. And it’s all about personalizing the options.

3-D printers—they’re not just for making cool plastic things anymore. They’re for making dinner!

That’s right 3-D food. Consider it the hospitality wave of the future that’s already lapping on some shores. Just take some pureed raw chicken, add in some vitamins, minerals, and veggies, and print out this liquefied form into any shape you can imagine. Then just pop in the oven to cook! That’s what the innovative culinary company Food Inc. from London, England, has been up to these days as it showcases this new way of cooking on a restaurant world tour.

Taking care of each other is a good thing. Re-purposing potential waste is a good thing. Finding a way to do both simultaneously is just about as good as it gets. That’s why we’re excited to share this article about a construction project underway right now in California that will convert used shipping containers into housing units for those who may not be in a position to pay for more traditional housing.

Each of the 16 units will feature two walls of floor to ceiling windows, a kitchen, dining area, bathroom and sleeping area. Residents will also have access to low or no-cost support services.

An egg carton that digitally lets you know when to buy more eggs.
A football helmet that reports head injuries immediately.
An elevator that sends out an error message before anyone notices a problem.

More and more people are living in a world where their coffee is ready before their feet even touch the kitchen floor, their car knows the fastest route to an appointment based on a calendar invite, and their business is implementing serious financial savings by monitoring its energy usage. Welcome to the ever-growing Internet of Things.

Looking for a mongo tax incentive? Go ahead and search Google images for “Mandalay Bay solar panels” to take a peek at a hotel industry leader that went solar. Cue wow emoji!

Luckily most businesses fall somewhere in between a solar-powered calculator and a twenty-acre solar array for a grand resort. And, in the past few years, prices to install solar panels have dropped, making it an affordable solution for many establishments.

Universities across the United States are committed to sustainability on and off campus, including for student housing. In fact, many universities have sustainable practices in place for their student housing facilities such as energy efficiencies, use of renewable resources, reduction of energy use, use of recycled and recyclable products, reduction of water use, waste reduction and more. They use the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating system as a guide for new construction projects, renovation projects and on-going maintenance of facilities. They are also committed to educating residents and staff through presentations, work group involvement, focus groups and the development of living learning environments.

Planning to build a new multifamily building? Before you finalize your construction plans, consider going green. Sounds pricey, doesn’t it? Truth is: it can save you money in the long run and help you attract new, responsible tenants in the short term—not to mention some reduced-premium insurance options, too. There’s a number of certifications and incentive programs out there, so you can find the one that’s right for you! Here are six reasons you should seek certification on your new construction:

Culture week. An opportunity for an organization to get together to share, learn, and grow to build a deeper connection to the core mission and values. We had ours last week, and it was great. Two full days of employee-led sessions on everything from stress management, communication, conflict resolution, to personal finance. We celebrated and came together. Only, we didn’t.

Museums, especially art museums, tend to have very demanding and precise requirements for temperature and humidity control, making certain sustainability practices, and LEED certification, difficult. Some are taking strides, however, to show that it can be done: Museums can go green.

Earth Month continues with a look at the commercial real estate sector, where strides are being made in reducing the industry’s collective carbon footprint, particularly in Class-A office buildings in top-tier cities. Investors, developers, managers, and corporate tenants throughout the country have embraced the concept of sustainability—due in large part to the efforts of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and its Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, the standard by which all commercial space is measured.

The best sustainable architecture goes far beyond a few rooftop solar panels. Let’s take a look at three standard-setting buildings across the country.

Last week we took a look at hotels that were making major sustainability efforts to reduce their environmental impact. This week we will visit another important hospitality industry that is making major improvements in how they do business. Restaurants are quickly learning the importance of sustainability, from using local and seasonal produce to prioritizing waste management and energy efficiency.

These changes can produce a significant positive impact, not only on the environment but also on a restaurant’s bottom line and employee morale. According to dinegreen.com, 80 percent of Americans identify themselves as environmentally concerned. A dedicated sector of this group is driving a 20 percent annual growth in the $11 billion organic food industry—no small potatoes.